Russia's Military Begins Nuclear War Drill

While much Western attention has been bestowed on Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine, Moscow also began a massive nuclear offensive exercise on Thursday.

According to the Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, on Thursday Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces began a massive three-day exercise involving 10,000 soldiers and 1,000 pieces of equipment from more than 30 units. The major purpose of the drill, according to the report—which cites multiple senior Russian military officers—is to ensure Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces have sufficient readiness to conduct offensive operations involving the massive and simultaneous use of nuclear missiles.

Global Security Newswire previously carried a story on the nuclear exercise, also citing the Nezavisimaya Gazeta article. GSN described the exercise as “as practice for a large-scale nuclear offensive.” It added: “Exercise participants were set to position and prepare missile-firing units for launch, and to practice various administrative and support functions for the operation

As Russia’s conventional military capabilities have deteriorated following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow has become increasingly reliant on operationalizing its nuclear arsenal. This has been reflected in successive Russian security documents. For example, Russia’s 1997 national security concept stated that Russia would use its nuclear arsenal “in case of a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation,” whether that threat came in the form of nuclear weapons or from a conventionally superior military power.

This threshold was further lowered in Russia’s 2000 military doctrine, which was the first released during Vladimir Putin’s presidency. This document said that Russia would use nuclear weapons “in response to large-scale aggression utilizing conventional weapons in situations critical to the national security of the Russian Federation.” This held out the possibility that Russia would use nuclear weapons even if Russia proper hadn’t been attacked. The same doctrine further noted that Russia reserved the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of any kind of weapons of mass destruction against it.

Shortly before reassuming the Russian presidency for a third term, Putin reaffirmed the importance he placed on Russia’s nuclear forces in a number of articles and speeches. For example, in an op-ed article in Foreign Policy magazine, Putin wrote: “We will, under no circumstances, surrender our strategic deterrent capability. Indeed, we will strengthen it.”

Still, the timing of the drill is likely to cause great concern in Western capitals, particularly in Washington. The drill could very well be intended to signal Russia’s resolve over events in Ukraine where Russia has been at loggerheads with the West and the government in Kiev over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. A very visible reminder of Russia’s substantial nuclear capabilities would make sense for Moscow in a number of different contingencies, including if Russia is intending to move forces deeper into eastern Ukraine, as many currently fear.

For what it’s worth, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta article said there was no connection between the current nuclear exercise and the crisis in Ukraine. As evidence of this, it pointed out that in December of last year the commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces had said that his forces would conduct a large and complicated exercise sometime during 2014. From this, the Russian daily concluded that the drill had been planned for weeks and was completely unrelated to the tensions of Ukraine.

At the same time, it ended the article by noting that testing the readiness of Russia’s strategic forces was especially important in light of the “current reality of the world situation.”

too bad the pax americana didn't have more pax in it and less americana.

having the cia run a coup (with neo nazis and neo zionists, apparently) to kick out ukraine's prior government in order to put nato and its missiles yet closer to russia was an outstandingly bad idea. that this idea is bipartisan and dates, generally, from the clinton administration, merely indicates that the real problems are not what the parties "fight" about but that on which they agree.

Ah, that must have been the problem that Hiroshima and Nagasaki had: not enough of that belief.

How ironic that they became victims of those who did. And even more ironic, that so many US "Christians" feel compelled to kill others -- especially on a massive scale, and it does not seem to matter if the victims are also fellow "Christians". Wow, how "Christ-like' of them.

Point is: "A Christian is as a Christian does."

I see VERY FEW Christians acting Christ-like, especially in the US, where the One God that they truly worship, and love with all their hearts & minds, is Mammon.

As someone dedicated to TRUTH above all things, I have also noted that the "wicked Jews" some like to constantly speak of, do not go about killing each other (willy-nilly), and certainly not on a massive scale. Christians and Muslims on the other hand,.have no such "hangups".

In conclusion, I will say that truth does not lie within religion, but lives outside religion. It is a (Jedi) mind trick of ancient and present day clergy of all ilk, that they have the answers and solutions, when they don't. What they DO have, is a brilliant plan/scheme to Aid & Abet the ruling Elite of their time and place, and thus ensuring themselves a perpetual lifestyle.

If the Flag is the last bastion of a scoundrel, then organized Christianity is the last bastion of Sheeple.

Always is it forgotten, that the Sun is the greatest source of light and power in the known and unknown universe. When it goes snap...crackle...pop...everybody isa gonna know. World be a turning and there are no certainties.

We had a earth facing X-class flare today, so you can be sure those winds will picking up in about two to three days.

sanctions and blockades got japan to attack pearl harbor. from the way it took two atom bombs to break them and the way their soldiers stayed in position on islands for years after the war, it might have taken starvation of at least stalin like proportions to bring surrender. which would be more humane?

I thnk you perspective would different if you were Russian - invaded many times throughput history and broke the back of the Nazi armies with the loss of 20m plus. No trust as Washington is perfidious.

"Not being a flag waver here, but I think your perspective might be a bit different if you'd fought your way up the Pacific and were prepping to go ashore in Japan."

Let's ask Someone who was in charge of the fucking largest collective military aggregation the world has ever seen and who knew as well as anyone:

""In 1945 ... , Secretary of War Stimson visited my headquarters in Germany, [and] informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on Japan. I was one of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act.... During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and second because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of 'face.' The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude, almost angrily refuting the reasons I gave for my quick conclusions." -Dwight D. Eisenhower

You ignorant cunt. When someone sneaks up and attacks you from behind when you are not looking (Dec 7 1941) you accept the risk of complete annilation in response.

Only the most ignorant stupid fucks who have no idea how things work in this world would post what you did.

Your sympathy for the attacker it a complete and final revelation of who you and your handlers are and your utter ignorance.You are the assholes who feel sorry for the knockout game attacker when he goes to jail for 30 years and dont mention the victim.

If someone attacks me in the method they deem appropriate, they accept my retribution is how I deem appropriate. If million knockout game attackers die from the result of one's actions, so be it.

Only idiots like you think they would not have used every bomb available on US to win that war if they had the tech.

Dec 7 1941 was not a surprise. The fact that all the aircraft carriers were gone from Pearl Harbor tells you that the leaders in Washington knew what was coming -- even if some of them could not remember where they were on Dec 6-7 1941. Those who died at Pearl Harbor were collateral damage to the ultimate goal -- entering the war in Europe. Name calling adds nothing except the possibility that you are a shill for the greedy fools in Washington.

We all are about to be the collateral damage in 2014 -- when the big kids attempt to rule Earth manage to end life on Earth.

Intentionally letting your guard down and exposing your weak side is a technique used by boxers, warriors and politcians. From, a none afflicting wound you will get to know your enemy and at the same time test the reaction of the spectators. Whether it is Hitler invading Poland, US allowing Japan to attack them, or 9/11 the results lead to public opinion ragging and telling their leaders to "get the bastards".

Propoganda is the masters tool. To affect change in your opponents mind. The boxer needs to take a few hits to tune his stategy. Unfortuneatley this technique has been lost to rile the masses. The citizens demand it. There is no time to think just react.

Who do we blame for these false flags, now that we know the truth? Who is accountable? Hitler, Truman, Bush, Obama, etc? Perhaps we just need to look in the mirror. No human being is better than another. We are all the same and all connected. Unfortunately those who think otherwise are in charge. Obama's statement a few months ago about Americans being exceptional put more fear into my heart than anything I have ever heard before.

While i don't wish to jump in the middle of anything I would recommend you read a bit about the real winston churchill - that guy was a real piece of work antagonizing to get the US into both world wars using false flag attacks and other ploys that resulted in America or more properly Roosevelt getting what he wanted - into the war; ah but there was another dimension to that as well - entry into the war provided the distraction and economic boost that got America back to work and focused on the outside threat - sound familiar. To say the Japanese attack was without provocation is naive in the extreme; always always always ask yourself who is to gain by this action, I mean really really gain.

War is the continuation of politics by other means; and politics is the continuation of economics by other means thus war is the continuation of economics and that my little friend is the sum total of the world wars in it's barest form........ the rest can simply be put down to the egomaniacal raging of pure psychopaths; the spawn of which form the .0001% ................... same as it ever was.

An old WW II Iwo Jima etc vet that was a reformed and retired survivor was our shop teacher in 7th grade. Back when they taught Craftsmen to be cautious. He was a big hero. A big scary grough man. Wow. Some stories. Used to keep us spell bound listening to the reality in his words of war. He was primarily trying to teach us about the horrors of war, to prevent war. An early model preemptive, preventative psychology. He never wanted to go there again, nor really wanted any of his prized pointed heads to go there, either.

Sometimes he would say, prolly because of some early model racist thing that was not a thing then because really tough men that horrifically killed for a living could say any darn thing they wanted to, but he would say way back then as if he knew something we had no clue about, "if America ever wanted to get rid of the Chinese, we would arm the Japanese again and send them over to China." He spoke about how ruthless and murderous killers the Japanese were and spoke to how it took so much to overtake them in so many details never to be mentioned here, or anywhere again. He said that the chinese really feared them, and their killerous ways.

Remind me how many Chinese civilians were killed when Japan occupied portions of China. I mean it is civilian deaths that matter right?

How many American soldiers lives were saved by not invading the Japan? Hundreds of thousands, as well as the hundreds of thousands of civilians which would have died protecting their homeland.

And for one last exercise, if you do not believe that the Japanese would not have used Nuclear weapons first, had they the ability, you are either a liar or simply ignorant. Hitler would have used them on the Russians as well.

Seriously? We used nukes and we deliberately targeted civilians. Perhaps your point is that we're as bad as the other guys. My America would not deliberately target civilians. That is what is supposed to make us different. Enjoy your fucking hot dogs on the 4th.

if we didn't have nukes we would have done to every city in Japan what we did to Dresden... why? Because *fuck you Japan*, that's why

total warfare means that when you start shit, you damn well better be ready to finish shit or you're finished... I truly laugh at anyone who treats this method of waging war like it's some big horrible surprise... it's not, it's modern warfare and anyone who asks for it better understand what they're getting themselves into

The Japanese launched over 9.000 fire ballons towards America before it ever fire bombed anything in Japan, they don't tell you that. These were crude and unguided (carried on the wind towards us) meant to start forest fires, burn crops, houses, civilians, whatever.

In other words, the odds were extremely low that one would land and ignite on any military target. They were brutal dickheads, deserving to be treated the same way.

The Japs bombed the Chinese cities of Canton & Nanking, well before "Germany bombed Pearl Harbor" and Nanking (and the Japanese march toward that city) of course, as everyone should know by now, was one of the most horrorific acts ever commited by any nations army.

well...if you were Japan and you had your entire country burned to the ground I think you would say "it was Japan's fault" even if you didn't start the war or believed in some "wild eyed conspriracy theory." but certainly there is room for debate as to how it really was all of 'merica's fault.

one thing hard to argue with is whether the USA was ready for its close up circa 1941. no one argues with who ended the war...and how. in fact this was probably the most definitive ending to a war ever. even came with Ye olde "reign of death unseen in history" comment from POTUS Truman just prior to The End. Then an 800 ship Navy parked itself in Tokyo Bay as well as thousands of aircraft overhead which then landed and parked themselves there. "Say hello to your new BFF." Heil MaCarthur! "those were the days."

I'm not sure I look forward to how this next war even starts actually. or is it "I don't like how this next war has already started and it's current trajectory."

Fire bomb raids on Tokyo did kill more civilians than Hiroshima, I dont think the origination of the firestorm that strips your skin off really matters. You could ask the folks in Dresden I am sure they would know. War is hell brought to earth, its not fair its not sporting its war. Lets use it as only a last resort, FUCK the MIC bitchez

Agreed, of course the USA value a couple of thousands of their military more than millions of civilians of other nations, this is the reason this mad dog must be killed. America is too dangerous for the human kind to allow it to rule the World.
As for Japan - it had already been efeated by Russia, which destroyed Japanese 1 mln strong Qwantung army in China. Japan had been on the brink of total collapse economically and lost its military power. One had just to wait a couple of months.
But the US needed a chanse to demonstrate to the World that it is able to destroy a big city with a single bomb - to be able to impose its will on the World.

"It is fantasy, not history, to believe that the end of the war(WWII) was

at hand before the use of the atomic bomb."

Richard B. Frank - US historian

Lets hear what somebody who was there said, Dow Theory guru Richard Russell

BEST OF RICHARD RUSSELLAugust 9, 2005

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb dropon Hiroshima. The bomb resulted in 140,000 Japanese dead. And the belatedarguments go on as to whether the US should have dropped the bomb. At thetime, the war was over in Europe. The US had suffered massive casualtiesand with tens of thousands dead. The war in the Pacific continued, and itwas horrendous. The US had taken 27,000 casualties in seizing the 8 squaremiles of Iwo Jima from a garrison of 21,000 Japanese troops. The US learnedthat the Japanese don't surrender, they were willing to die almost to thelast man. Roughly 6,000 Japanese stood ready (all volunteers) to fly thecertain-death Kamikaze missions. The US had taken 49,000 casualties tocapture Okinawa during three unbelievable months of fighting. Supporting the Okinawa battle, the US navy lost or suffered damage to 350 ships, while 10,000 US sailors had been wounded or killed.Meanwhile, the US military was working on plans to attack Japan itself. At the time Japan had 4 million well-trained soldiers, 2.4 million of themstationed in Japan. The US military believed an attack on Japan could costas many as 250,000 casualties with at least 60,000 US dead. Some estimateda lot more, possibly as many as a million US casualties and dead.

I had just returned from combat in Europe and was scheduled to transferfrom the B-25 Mitchell bomber to the faster Douglas A-26 "Invader" bomber.I was on a 30-day leave, following which I would be heading for thePacific. My thought was -- "I got through Europe, but is it possible that Icould get out alive from the Pacific too? Could any bombardier be thatlucky?" I consoled my frightened parents by telling them what a great planethe A-26 was, "much faster and safer" than the B-25 (I loved the B-25, itcould take a fearful beating and return home).

And then the news of Hiroshima and Nagasaki came out and shocked the world,including the US military, who had no hint of the atomic bomb. Against thewishes of the Japanese military (who would have fought to the bitter end,they didn't believe in surrender), Japan's emperor announced that Japanwould surrender.

Every guy in the military that I knew was elated. And millions of Americanmothers and fathers looked to the heavens and thanked God that their kidswere still alive. I went down to Time Square, and it was a total mad house.People were kissing each other, hugging each other, kissing strangers --some were crying, others were drinking, hysteria reigned. I doubt ifanything like that had ever been seen in New York before or since.

A few weeks later I got my discharge papers. Next day I went down toWashington Square and registered at NYU under the GI Bill.

Should we have dropped the bomb, or should we have invaded Japan the hardway? Don't even ask me that question. When I hear young people or academicsarguing that to drop the bomb was inhuman and immoral I simply ask themwhere they were in 1945. I didn't know where they were, but I damn wellknew where they weren't. They weren't in the military in that fateful year 1945.

My old man fought in the Philipines in the last half of the war(33rd Division) and recounted to me that the Japanese soldiers ran every time his company tried to engage them. He also was in the Battle for the Liberation of Baguio City. When the Japanese surrendered he told me that he would never forget the condition of the survivors of the American civilian population who were imprisoned by the Japs.

He could recall the minutest detail of just about every day of his life during the war but never spoke of that subject further.

"Next day I went down to Washington Square and registered at NYU under the GI Bill."

Get dat gubmint chedda while its stills be hot, yo! This is a typical "Greatest" Generation apologia for naked Anglo-US imperialism, absolutely no historical perspective whatsoever.

I bet those morons were slapping themselves for their forefathers' ever having had the brilliant idea to fully modernize Japan (catastrophically disrupting its society), totally disrupting a regional power balance that had existed for millennia, then have the nerve to be incensed when Japan decided not to be a good little client-state and start doing exactly what the European nations had been doing for 500 years and America for a little under 200.

The fact that "he was there" is utterly materially ifuckingrrelevant. His entire fucking generation "was there" and still GOT THEMSELVES involved in the fucking war which was caused and created by the equally "there" previous generation who gave us World War I and it's brilliant conclusion as well as everything that interceded the two. The level of denial and post-hoc rationalization is not "great", "huge", "immense", "enormous", or "gargantuan", it is COSMIC.

As of today Japan still refuses to return the nuclear weapon grade plutoninum despite Ooobumpma 's repeated request. Japan denies its war time crime and rewritten its textbook about its history to midlead its young. It is now attempting to remilitarize.. Japan was and is EVIL.

Oh, we where all kids once and you have to admit. who didn't have doomsday and omega bombs to play with when they where kids?
Oh and that torture basement?! So much fun!
Mom ran the secret service, dad ran the bureau of forced labor and my brother and I ran the army.
All normal back than!
untill the cops showed up on day...
didn't really count on thos guys...

Great show. Rick Jason wrote an autobiography and devoted quite a few chapters to Combat. It was very interesting reading especially if you're a fan. It used to be available free online but, I can't find it now. My fav episode is one of the early ones starring Shecky Green. Funny guy!

if the uSSA was nuked it will have been done by the nSSA, so no Pharry wouldn't shoot back, as that would run counter to the "plan". All that's left is to find a remarkable date like 911 for everyone to be able to wrap themselves in a flag, false or otherwise

I wouldn't under estimate Barry right now, his administration needs a distraction in the worse way and Putin has been handing him his ass on the international stage. I agree he's a pussy but rest assured he has no problem pushing a button from the safety of a bunker.

i've always wondered where these clowns have their zombie fort set up. There's a massive need for infrastrucrure, power generation, fortification, food production to house these ass clowns and their spawn, let alone the cages to house all the virgins they'll need to continue to devour.

Something required on this magnitude must show up on somebodies satellite.....how have they managed to hide their preps to this point??

Thailand has satellites that can find deck chairs in the ocean, how has this been overlooked?

the US doesn't need Barry or any other CnC around to shoot back... there's enough autonomous nuclear death lurking under the waves to kill everyone several times over, and they're more than capable of doing that without word from on high

The nuclear weapons are the real reason that this crap likely cannot be stopped short of Mad Max scenarios.

Please carefully ponder the likes of The People's Gulag/Funhouse of Horror which is officially called 'North Korea' by the fine folks at the U.N. and Rand McNally if You haven't already gotten the picture... - That fucktastic situation is sustained wholly via the deterent of nuclear weapons whithout fear of which the South Koreans and the Chinese would have Crimeannexed the region long ago...

I visited S Korea in 2012. We buy most of our bearings from S Korea. There is this yearning among the S Koreans to reunite with the North, but under democratic terms.

Occasionally I see people here at ZH who say good things about N Korea (not owned by Zionists!, etc.). They are full of crap.

I saw the forests on the hills just south of the DMZ, and saw the BARE hills of the North. Why would that be? The North Korean people stripped their mountains for firewood to stay alive & warm in the winter.

I saw the tunnels the Norks dug under S Korean sovereign territory before the S Koreans flooded them each time the S discovered one.

The South even took one of these tunnel cases to the UN. The Norks said it was the SOUTH digging those tunnels... But, the S Koreans were ready for their BS, they showed how it was impossible for the dynamite holes to have been dug from the south at the head of each tunnel... Ha ha, lyin' SOBs. You think OUR government lies? Read The Orphan Master's Son (a recent fiction bestseller, but they author did his homework, including GOING THERE).

NO ONE who complains about America ever seems to want to go to live in Cuba, Somalia, Iran and the other wonderful places described as "not under ZIONIST control". N Korea is 20 times worse than any of the immediate above except perhaps Somalia.

The Chinese would love to wipe out N.Korea if not for the fact that the US is stationed in S.Korea. The fat boy in N.Korea, his father and grand father all treat China as the enemy. They even hang big banners at the front door of their military school proclaiming " China is our enemy ".

N.Korean civilians conitnues to suffer as long as the US continues to station its troops in S.Korea and Japan. ICBM only take 6 minutes to fly from the US to China. What is wrong with the US paranoid assholes.

Is that really true ? I use to manage a sandwich shop in east San Jose,a couple of the guys went to Europe and one of them brought home a hot French woman who was a nurse.The one guy Thane said she was a bitch but as luck has it as my wife was giving birth and here's this beautiful french nurse in east San Jose,sure enough it was Marks wife.Now I normally don't judge guys but I didn't think Mark had it and lo and behold was this beautiful,nice French women,and I'm still fucking jealous 16 years later.......don't mind me,Im fucked up hahahah

I remember in 1982 or so sitting lakeside at a campfire in northern Michigan with my girlfriend of the time, looking up at the stars on a perfect night and talking about whether someone would push the button (yes, I sucked even as a young lad, but her mom was inside the cabin so what do you do). I recall believing quite firmly at the time that someone would. Eventually. I'm not sure I believe that this military exercise is anything more than propaganda by Putin, but there are only a few guys who know.

Strange, is it not, that so much depends on Putin not being an idiot, or at least less of one than Barry?

It is not in Putin's interest to roll across the border. Chaos and civil war in Ukraine will do the heavy lifting for him, with far less risk and collateral damage. But does that influence his calculations, and how much?

Putin is no idiot, but he's former KGB and my guess is that he sees himself in the manner he portrays in the media (shirt off, wrestling a lion). My other guess is that he's calling the bluff of the bankers who control the West. Oh, and Obama, their mouthpiece. What we don't know is whether the bankers are bluffing. They tend to be complete pussies when pushed into a corner, but they are also sociopaths who want to win at all costs and if they believe they can personally survive, they may not be bluffing. It kind of makes sense that Putin is telling them they will get their own noses bloody, because sociopath bankers like all bullies don't want to experience pain.

The little I know is very old, but there are, in fact, suit case bombs, which would not be easy to find or detect. Russian accounting was never very good, and there were lots of unpaid military personnel around at the end of the old Soviet era. They also had most of the Naval stuff, or access to it, so yeah, it's not easy to know what a few officers decided to keep.

There are suitcase deals missing form both the US and old Soviet arsenals.The US incident was documented from a bunker in Germany when radiation leaks caused inspections and Viola!Long, long time ago...

It would be interesting if Russia were to release some of their targeting into for their ICMBs showing that they were targeting every one of the hidey holes of rich assholes. Not a very long list - maybe 50 nukes would do it. Let's start with Jackson Hole & Aspen (gotta get Cheney) and then move on to the Caymans, Cayafete, the Hamptons, Monaco, etc. Russia could do the world a major favor by ensuring that none of these rich assholes, or their spawn, survived the first strike. Of course we all know that DC, NY, London, Los Angeles, Dallas etc would be on the list - but I would love to know that all the "safe" bugouts were also slated for incineration. Might give some folks a moment's pause.

Totally agree...MUCH depends on Putin NOT being an idiot...and he is not...but the real problem is barry/usOFa being incredible idiots..barry & the boyz may push this thing past where the outcome is anyhting but shooting...as long as it stays conventional no problem...BUT...if NATO feels the need to toss a tactical nuke it goes strategic quickly...